THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: The Lucrative World of Literary Scams.
“Hello Professor Snigdha Poonam,” the email began. I read that again. Nobody has ever called me “professor” for the obvious reason that I am not a professor. Bracing myself, I read on.
The email was from Timothy Firth, organizer of a Seattle-based life-drawing community with 1,943 members that regularly has “thoughtful discussions inspired by creative works.” A recent inspiration was my first book, Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World. The group wanted to discuss it, the email said, at one of its upcoming meetups. Attendees would be encouraged to post reviews on Goodreads and Amazon after.
I looked up CAM Life Drawing and found an events page and an Instagram account. The latter had some photos of Timothy Firth — white, male — as well as testimonials from members who said he worked “day and night to create more community space.” Something told me this wasn’t the man who had reached out to me.
Why would a hyperlocal life-drawing community in Seattle be interested in a nonfiction book about the shifting aspirations of young people in India’s small towns? The book was published seven years ago. What did they want from me?
I accepted the invitation. The next email had a slick poster promoting the Zoom event, with the book cover as the backdrop and blurbs from the Economist and other publications. My attention was drawn to something more intriguing: a request for a “contribution fee,” with no amount specified. It would cover promotion, coordination and administration. But, oddly, this email didn’t come from Timothy. Signing off this time was Stephen — “Organizer, Community Improv LA,” another group in another city. According to the improv community’s Facebook group, Stephen is indeed the name of the organizer. However, Stephen had written to me using Timothy’s email address. To add to the chaos, Stephen/Timothy had also left what I suspect was an AI prompt in the email, which included the line: “MAKE IT MORE PROFESSIONAL.”
This was undoubtedly a scam. Genuine book clubs don’t ask for money from authors. But who was behind it?
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